Diocesan Heritage Project
Mahoonagh Parish

The village of Mahoonagh is two miles south east of the town
of Newcastlewest. Feohanagh village is situated approximately five miles further
away, on the R522. The parish has two main centres, Castlemahon village and
Feohanagh village.

The present day name of Mahoonagh comes from the Irish 'Maigh
Tamhnach', which means 'the plain of the tree stumps' or 'the plain of
the clearings'. The village of Mahoonagh is more commonly known as Castlemahon
village, although Mainchín Seoighe tells us that the origin of this
placename is unclear, there being neither parish nor townland of that name.

There is no exact known date for the founding of the parish.
In the sixteenth century, Mahoonagh was divided up into three parts called
Trean Tawnaghe, Treanmeane and Treanfaltaghe.

Cormac MacCarthaigh became the King of Munster in 1123 when
his brother Tadhg died. According to Mainchín Seoighe, Cormac was known
as Cormac Muighe Thamhnach because he had his residence in Mahoonagh. Cormac
was a violent leader and led an expedition against the O'Connor's of Connacht.
However, he was displaced as King in 1127 and was killed in 1138 in his house
in Maigh Thamhnach by the O'Briens. Previously, it was recorded that Cellachan,
the King of Cashel was killed at Mahoonagh in 954.

Churches

There are two churches in the parish of Mahoonagh, the first
at Castlemahon and the second at Feohanagh. On Ascension Thursday, the 26th
of May 1960, Bishop Murphy laid the foundation stone to the present Castlemahon
church. Bishop Murphy opened the new church the following year in 1961. The
church is dedicated to St John the Baptist. Mr Michael Raleigh gave the site.
The architect was Chevalier P. J. Sheahan and the contractor was Mr. J. McCormack.
The cost of the new church was £26,000.

Outside the church there is a mosaic of Jesus the shepherd
which is to the memory of Bertie O'Gorman who died on December 16 1959. Further
left of this mosaic is the foundation stone of the church. At the back of
Castlemahon church, there is a statue of St Joseph on the right, while on
the left there is a statue to Mary. To the left of the altar is the tabernacle
and on the right there is an altar to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Buried in the grounds of the church is:

Canon Michael Quinn
P.P. 1959-1972
Died July 28 1972, aged 75

The present day Castlemahon church replaced St Nicholas' church,
which had been built by Fr Michael Sheehan in the 1830s. In the early 1900s,
Canon Irwin discovered that the foundations were faulty and pins had to be
inserted to keep the walls straight. The national school in Castlemahon was
built on the site of this church.

The Castlemahon History Group recently erected a plaque in
memory of all the priests who were buried in the parish and it was placed
on the site of the old church in Castlemahon. The inscription on this plaque
reads:

Ar Dheis Dé Go Raibh A nAnamacha
Erected by Castlemahon History Society Group February 1999
Unveiled by President Mary McAleese on June 9th 1999

The present church at Feohanagh was built in 1833. According
to an inscription on the foundation stone, the church was built by public
subscription in 1833 with the leadership of Fr R. M. Sheahan PP and Fr R.P.B.
Benson CC., the parish priest and curate at the time.

Lord Muskerry of Springfield gave the site for the church
and much of the necessary building material. The church was built mainly by
voluntary labour. The tiled floor was not laid until 1890. The present roof
was put on in 1938 and further renovated in 1978 by Fr Michael Kelly. The
church bell in Feohanagh was originally destined for Castlemahon church but
it was brought to Feohanagh by mistake.

Over the main door of the church there is a stained glass
window of the Blessed Virgin. This window was donated to the memory of Fr
Con Gilbourne from Ballygulleen. Fr Gilbourne was a priest in the Diocese
of Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia.

There is a crucifix over the marble altar. In the left transept
there is a statue of Mary. The baptismal font is situated in the right transept.

The ruins of the abbey are situated in the graveyard. It is believed that
the abbey was built in or around 1499. This abbey, which is also known as
St Nicholas' church, was founded by the Augustinians.

The church of St Nicholas was attacked in 1579 during the
persecution of Catholics under the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Attempting to
avoid the Queen's troops, the retreating forces of the Earl of Desmond (on
their way to Mayne) mistakenly believed they would be safe in the abbey, as
it was holy ground. Over forty people were killed by the Queen's troops. Twenty-four
monks were killed in the raid. A plaque was recently erected in memory of
those who died in the raid. The inscription on the plaque reads:
420th anniversary (1579-1999)
In commemoration of the Martyrdom of Monks and Civilians by English Soldiers
in 1579 here at Castlemahon Augustinians Old Abbey, The Church of St Nicholas.
Go ndeanna Dia Trocaire Orthu
Erected by Castlemahon History Society Group February 1999
Unveiled by President Mary McAleese on June 9th 1999

A third church was built in 1836 on the roadside between Newcastle and Drumcollogher,
which cost £600. No one knows where the site of the church is but, due
to the road improvements over the years, it is believed that the site is no
longer on the roadside.

In the late eighteenth century, there was a mass house in
Feohanagh called O'Riordan's house. It is possible that the third church was
actually the mass house.

In the thirteenth century, there is a record of a church in
the townland of Appletown.

There was also a church about two miles from Feohanagh village
at a place called Culhane's Cross. The land is now owned by Pat Frawley but
no trace of the church building remains.

There are reputedly ecclesiastical ruins at Mayne but this
is unproven, as it could have been a military building.

There was a monastery at Aglish. This monastery dated from
the sixteenth century and was on a 13-acre site. According to local historian
Margaret Doody Scully, the monastery began to decline with the death of the
Earl of Desmond in 1583 when the Normans took charge of the area. Today, a
graveyard is situated on the site of the former monastery.

According to Westropp, Cromman chapel may have existed here
from about 1278 as in that year Thomas de Clare is listed as its patron. The
church was restored in 1410 and rededicated to St John the Baptist.

Mahoonagh graveyard is located in the grounds of the abbey
ruin. The oldest headstones in this graveyard are located closest to the abbey
ruin. The graveyard was extended in the late 1960's.

Aglish graveyard is on the site of the former monastery. This
graveyard is still in use and the oldest headstone in the graveyard is reputed
to be from 1760. The oldest headstone that we came across was from 1788 in
memory of Thomas Fitzgerald. One of the oldest headstones that we came across
was this one from 1795, in memory of Edmond Power.

It is possible that there are older graves in the cemetery,
as many of the graves were marked with marker stones, which do not bear inscriptions.
Indeed the practice of using headstones to mark individual graves did not
become popular until the eighteenth century.

Some of the headstones face the field and not the road, which
could indicate that the monastery was further away from the road.

The graveyard was cleaned up in 1949 by Muintir na Tíre.
It took three months of hard work to clear the graveyard of trees and to lay
the cement paths. All of the work was done voluntarily. Today, the graveyard
is in good condition.

There is a Famine graveyard in Boithre na Cealla (road to
the church) at Clooncourivane about a mile from the roadside. This site is
also called Gurrane. A commemorative plaque was recently erected to mark the
site. The inscription on the plaque reads:

Ní Hé Dia a cheap Riamh an Obair Seo

In Memory of All the People who were buried here in
Boithre na Cealla Cemetery
During and after the Famine years (1845-1849)

Daoine Bochta cur le Fuacht is le Fah

Erected by Castlemahon History Society Group February 1999
Unveiled by President Mary McAleese on June 9th 1999

There was also a burial place for unbaptized children as the
site is sometimes called Killeen. Small straight stone markers indicated the
graves. Approximately 200 people are believed to be buried here. The ruins
of a monastery (believed to be Augustinian) were present up to twenty years
ago when the stones were removed. This site may have been situated at Killila
Bridge.

There is a second Famine graveyard at Ballinakill in a place
called Donoghue's field, which is now owned by Padraig Cagney. There are approximately
50 people buried here in a mass grave. The cause of their deaths was yellow
fever. Although the people buried here did not die from famine, it is remembered
locally as a famine graveyard because the deaths occurred around this time.
There was believed to be a mass rock on or near the site.

Tobaroanbastia well is situated at Cooliska and is known for
curing eye diseases. The well is a clear pool of bubbling water. There is
a statue of St John the Baptist at the well, and a path has been laid around
the well. The statue was imported from France in 1951. On the feast day of
St. John the Baptist, the 29th of August, the rosary is recited here. A pattern
with sports and horse racing was held on the feast day up to the 1850s. There
used to be an old ash tree overhanging the well but this has been removed.
It was claimed that you could see the print of St John's knees on the trunk
of the tree. The old ash tree was rumoured to be 1,500 years old and wood
from it could not burn. Rags are tied to the new tree as a sign of an offering
at the well.

A girl by the name of Flanagan from Knockaderry was cured
at the well from blindness after saying three decades of the rosary. The child
also claimed to have seen three trout in the well. According to tradition,
if you should see a fish in the well, your disease will be cured. When Dean
Richard O'Brien was a child, he was cured from blindness at the well. In honour
of this, his mother named him Richard Baptist O'Brien.

According to legend, the well appeared when St Patrick struck
the rock and water sprang up out of it. The water from the well will not boil.
Danaher also documents that a tramp once washed his feet in well. After this
event, the well moved from its position at the roadside to the field nearby.

According to Danaher, there are two other wells in the parish,
Toberreendoney (Well of the King of the Sabbath) and Tobar Mhuire (Virgin
Mary's Well), both of which are in the townland of Ahawilk. Both wells were
celebrated for curing blindness and rheumatism. One of these wells is known
locally as the Blessed Well, according to Danaher, but he does not specify
which one. Local historian Pat Normoyle says that the Blessed Well was Tobar
Mhuire, and a native of the parish in his eighties remembers going to the
well as a child with his father, in his bare feet. The well is situated on
the left-hand side of the road from Newcastlewest to Feohanagh on Con Doody's
land. Devotions are no longer held at these wells.

Another well in the parish was the White Well (Tobar Gal)
at Moanroe but this has been taken over by Limerick County Council and is
now used to supply water to the district. Danaher states that it was formerly
known as a Holy Well, although locals do not remember it as such.

There was reputedly a well at Mayne called St Brigid's Well
(Tobarbreedia) but devotions have not been held there for at least 25 years.

There was a mass rock in the parish, which was situated in
a fort adjacent to Donoghue's field in Ballinakill. The Castlemahon History
Group is currently planning to erect a plaque to mark the site of the mass
rock for future generations.Top

Famous People

Michael Scanlan was born in Castlemahon in 1833 and died in
1917. During the Great Famine, when Michael was fifteen years old, he left
with his family for America. Scanlan worked in a number of different jobs
in America before joining the State Department in Washington, where he became
the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics.

Together with other Irish emigrates, he founded a paper called
"The Irish Republic" in 1867. This paper was the mouthpiece of the
Fenian organisation. Michael was a renowned writer and poet. He wrote the
following poem, which Limerick historian Mainchín Seoighe described
as 'the great anthem of the [Fenian] movement' in his book "County Limerick
- its people and places".

See who came over the red-blossomed heather,
Their green banners kissing the pure mountain air;
Heads erect, eyes to front, stepping proudly together,
Sure Freedom sits throned on each proud spirit there.
Down the hills twining
Their blessed steel shining.
Like rivers of beauty that flow from each glen,
From mountain and valley
Tis Liberty's rally -
Out and make way for the bold Fenian men!

One of the leaders in the 1916 Rising, Con Colbert was born
in Monalena in Castlemahon.

Feohanagh is known throughout the country for their skills
on the hurling field. One family in particular deserves recognition - the
Quaids. An earlier generation of the Quaids, Jim and Jack played for the county
team. Their sons carried on the tradition and presently Joe Quaid (son of
Jim) is the goalkeeper of the senior team. Before Joe took over the No.1 jersey,
his cousin the late Tommy Quaid (son of Jack) was the county goalkeeper for
18 years. During this time, Tommy won many honours in the game including an
All-Star Award in 1992.

Now in Sydney, Bishop David Cremin is originally from the
townland of Ballydoorty in the parish of Mahoonagh. Bishop Cremin is the Auxilary
Bishop to his Eminence Cardinal Sir James Freeman, Archbishop of Sydney.

The list of Priests from 1704 to 1836 is compiled from information
gained in Begley's History of the Diocese of Limerick Vol. III page 598. The
remaining years are compiled from the Catholic Directories. Information contained
in a directory of any given year refers to what happened the previous year.
For example if a priest is recorded in the 1954 directory as being in a particular
parish, this would mean that he was actually there in 1953.